Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sweaters are amazing things, they keep us warm, they show something about ourselves (like our love for our mothers when we wear horrible jumpers with snowmen on the front and it was bought in a store), men give girls their sweaters to keep them warm, we knit them for people we really love and we should all put on one before putting the heat on. I'm currently wearing a sweater that was given to me by a guy when we first started seeing each other, but after we broke up I returned it to him and then he realized I had shrunk the sweater to my size and he gave it to me.

I have yet to knit a sweater that turns out to be something I can wear. The Swirl I was making turned out too small (nearly every knitter I've talked to has had issues with guage and those sweaters), I tend not to finish them, or I realize I've tinkered with the pattern so much I have no idea where I am in it or how to fix it. But this is all to change!

Thanks to a very kind lady who was moving and gave me part of her stash I had enough yarn to make a sweater for someone I really love, out of yarn I knew they would love, in a color they love. I can't show pictures of it, because then they would know, but I can say it is nearly done and I think this will be the first sweater I ever finish and is wearable! How about that for Christmas knitting!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Last night while waiting for Anna to get off work I was reading an article in the fall Jane Austin Knits and an older gentleman asked me if I knit. Now normally I would just say yes an keep reading but when I looked up I swear it was the old man from Up. Tweet hat, pocket watch, jacket with elbow protectors, and he had a look on his face that made me wonder who else knitted in his life.

I followed up my quick yes about how I do knit and I was taught by my grandmother. He got this smile and just patted me on the shoulder and said that it made him happy to hear that.

It got me to thinking, and with the Yarn Harlot's questions regarding how people don't cook it adds to the thoughts, that there are skills less then 50 years ago were common knowledge. Children knew where their food came from and how to cook. Those huge ponchos that remind us of a time when acrylic was the newest and greatest thing were only acquired if you were rich or good with a crotch hook.

But with what I'm seeing today I have to ask:

Have our parents failed us and are parents failing with their kids now?

In the hustle and bustle we saw the past few decades did our parent's parents try too hard to make sure their kids did well in school, sports and other parts of life and forgot to teach them basic living skills. It is so easy to just tell your child to study more and say "I'll take care of dinner/laundry/making the bed/cleaning" and forget that if you don't show them how to take care of themselves, they will never learn. One of the things that is so easy for a parent to take care of is making food, but it is one of the basic skills every person will need. If we don't bring our children into the kitchen how will they learn to cook? I once had a boyfriend that did not know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich and that put things into perspective about how he was raised (issues with laundry should have been another giveaway, but I am sometimes slow to the faults of the ones I love). I have friends that ask me for my recipes and where I got it, and look puzzled when I say I just looked at what I had in the fridge and made something from it.

I learned how to cook, clean, sew, do laundry, knit and make my bed from the woman in my family. My mother was considered no great cook when I was growing up (there were several kitchen fires), but she is a decent one in today's society. She taught me to make a souffle though her chicken soup was bland. My grandmother taught me to knit and my aunt taught me and Anna to make lapskaus. Sewing was one thing my mother could do, and I eventually took the little bit of cleaning knowledge she taught me and which my studio is not sparkling clean, give me 30 mins and it can be. I can also plant and maintain a garden due to my grandmother.

We use to have home economics classes, but now those have disappeared. So where will our children learn about how to keep themselves alive, well fed, clean and well dressed?

The answer is the parents and family. We need to bring our children in again. Give them chores like cleaning the bathroom and making their beds. Teens can suffer through doing their own laundry and fending for themselves one dinner a week. The eventual goal of every parent is to create successful adults out of their children. So shouldn't they succeed in the home as well as the outside world?

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Yes, I'll admit it, I have too much yarn. While recently moving things around I realized I had more yarn then space.

So in light of all this Anna challenged me to not buy any yarn for a year. She works at Barnes and Noble and has the same issue with books so she is not buying books for a year.

My goal is to get through all those projects I have laying around, the fleeces that need cleaning and spinning, and some of the stash.

Today I took the first step towards it by putting all the half down projects in project bags and took a look at what yarn I had enough of for sweaters and swatched for a few patterns. I don't care how many projects get cast on, because since I can knit at work again I can finish anything and am back to knitting up to 200 yards a day. That is about an entire sock a day. I even finished all but the top ribbing of a hot waterbottle cozy today (which is a Christmas gift and made from old stash yarn, so double win).

Anna and I have a burrito riding on who will give into buying books or yarn first.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I know it's been a while but a few things have happened in the last few months that have made life difficult and I'm finally ready to start talking about it all.

Ben and I broke up back in late July and I have relocated to the Bay Area. This means that I lost my office, my base and am basically rebuilding much of my life.

Around the time I was moving there was also a change in Terms and Conditions that affect a few of us over at Phat Fiber and a few of our shops got closed. I don't want to get into the details, because it makes me angry and depressed, but it was the final blow needed to shut down business and shatter my self esteem. I shipped out as many of the orders I could, but when Etsy closes your shop you lose access to past order data, so a few might have fallen through the cracks. Go ahead and file a claim with PayPal or Etsy and they will help you per the Terms and Conditions that they have set up.

I'm switching this blog over to more of a creative/personal blog.

Things are still rather touch and go over on my end, but recently it has been more go luckily.

I have personal plans for next year that will hopefully finish pulling me out of the depression. Right now I'm focussing on making it through the holidays, clearing my plate of unfinished business and work.

I know some of you have been worried, I see you Caren and Jeanne-Marie, but you'll start to see more things on the blog as my creativity comes back.